W131 is a course in academic writing that attempts
to integrate critical reading, thinking, and writing about phenomena
and issues in our culture. Rather than practicing a set of discrete
skills or often unrelated modes of discourse, the course aims to
build sequentially on students' ability to read both written and
cultural texts closely and critically and to analyze those texts in
ways that also engage and problematize students' own experience, the
perspectives of "experts," and the world they live in.

W131 aims
to show students how the use of sources, agreement/disagreement, and
personal response can be made to serve independent, purposeful, and
well-supported analytical writing.

In summary, the course offers
instructions and practice in the reading, writing, and critical
thinking skills required in college. Emphasis is on written
assignments that require synthesis, analysis, and argument based on
sources.

**Please note that it is STRONGLY recommended that non-
native or Basic Writing (eligible) students do NOT take W131 during
the first summer session.